HUMN 2113 Kyle Kemp "Becoming Human"

Archaeology

Is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data which they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes.

Anthropology

The science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind.

Fossils

The remains or imprint of an organism from a previous geologic time. it can consist of the preserved tissues of an organism, as when encased in amber, ice, or pitch, or more commonly of the hardened relic of such tissues, as when organic matter is replaced by dissolved minerals. Hardened ones are often found in layers of sedimentary rock and along the beds of rivers that flow through them.

The Afar Depression

Is a geological depression near the Horn of Africa, also a part of the Great Rift Valley and is well known as one of the cradles of hominids, containing the Middle Awash, site of many fossil hominid discoveries.

Great Rift Valley

Is a geographical and geological feature running north to south for around 4,000 miles, from northern Syria to central Mozambique in East Africahas which has been a rich source of fossils that allow study of human evolution.

(Salaam and Lucy) Australopithecus afarensis

With this bipedal ancestor you can see evolution in the making, an analgom (mixture) of ape and human characteristics, waist down it was like us, waist up it is all ape, one of the longest-lived and best-known early human species— paleoanthropologists have uncovered remains from more than 300 individuals! Found between 3.85 and 2.95 million years ago in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania), this species survived for more than 900,000 years, which is over four times as long as our own species has been around

Bipedalism

Is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs, or legs.

Molecular clock

Is a technique that uses fossil constraints and rates of molecular change to deduce the time in geologic history when two species or other taxa diverged.

DNA

Is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms who main evolutionary function is the long-term storage of information.

(Toumai) Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Its crushed skull reproduced using a 3D cast early indications are it was a biped, one of the oldest known species on the human family tree. This species lived sometime between 7 and 6 million years ago in West-Central Africa (Chad). Walking upright may have helped this species survive in the diverse habitats— including forests and grasslands.

Particle accelerator

Is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams, Beams of high-energy particles are useful for both fundamental and applied research in the sciences.

Lunate sulcus

A deep furoghh in a primate’s brain that divides parts of the brain related to vision from the rest of the neocortex.

Neocortex

Is a part of the brain of mammals. It is the outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres, it is involved in higher functions such as sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought and language.

Endocast

Is the internal cast of a hollow object, often specifically used for study of the cranial tilt.

Paleoneurology

Is the study of the evolution of the brain by using fossil evidence; particularly brain casts.

Stone tool

Associated with prehistoric, particularly Stone Age cultures that have become extinct, they represent the first advancement is tool use.

(Handy man) Homo Habilis

First of the species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 2.3 to 1.4 million years ago at the beginning of the Pleistocene and is the first human ancestor to use tools, shows the first signs of protein becoming a large part of our diet, compared to australiopithicens the brain size doubled.

Cognition (cognitive ability)

Is the scientific term for “the process of thought”.

Paleoartist

Artist that work with subjects related to paleontology. These may be representations of fossil remains or creating depictions of the living creatures and their ecosystems.

Diatoms

Tiny one celled organisms who live in water, they are a major group of algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton, which fossil communities are a popular tool for monitoring
environmental conditions in the past.

(Turkana Boy) Homo erectus

This specimen is the most complete early human skeleton ever found. It is 1.5 million years old, who’s teeth showed that he was eight years old and already 5’3 feet tall, the first ancestors we can really call human, a world traveler, a tool maker, a hunter, tamer of fire, creator of the first human societies.

Broca’s area

Is a region of the hominid brain with functions linked to speech production.

Hand axe

Is a bifacial Stone tool of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic and is the longest-used tool of human history representing the beginning stone technology.

Carnivore

Is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or
exclusively of animal tissue

Herbivore

Is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or
exclusively of plants matter.

Omnivore

Is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting of both plant matter and animals tissue.

Louse

Any of numerous small, flat-bodied, wingless biting or sucking insects, many of which are external
parasites on various animals, including humans and have aided anthropologist in determining when the hominid spices began loosing body hair.

Persistence hunting

A technique in which hunters use a combination of running and tracking to pursue prey to the point of heat exhaustion.

Infanticide

Is the homicide of an infant. It typically happens on the first day of the babies life, it is usually the mother of the infant who commits the act, no other spices does this more than Humans.

(The Hobbit) Homo floresiensis

Is a possible species, now extinct, in the genus Homo. The remains were discovered in 2004 on the islands of Indonesia. Partial skeletons of nine individuals have been recovered, including one complete cranium, it is believed they are the process of Insular dwarfism.

Insular dwarfism

Is the process and condition of the reduction in size of large animals – typically mammals but also
dinosaurs – when their population's gene pool is limited to a very small environment, primarily islands.

Homo heidelbergensis

Is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens.

Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones)

Site is situated at the bottom of a chimney and can be reached through the caves by scrambling through the Cueva Mayor caves. Since 1997, the team which carried out the excavations in the area has found human bones exceeding 5,500 in numbers which date back to more than 350,000 years and correspond to Middle Pleistocene.

Sima de los Huesos (Excalibur)

Done in red quartzite and exceptional quality. This finding and other unique stone tools recovered along with 4,000 Neanderthal fossils about 500,000 years ago tells us that this is a milestone representing a belief shared by a whole group, while symbolic behavior oldest known today.

Homo neanderthalensis

Are our closest extinct human relative. Some defining features of their skulls include the large middle part of the face, angled cheek bones, and a huge nose for humidifying and warming cold, dry air. Their bodies were shorter and stockier than ours, another adaptation to living in cold environments. But their brains were just as large as ours and often larger - proportional to their brawnier bodies.

Boy From Scladina

Neanderthal child named for the cave in Belgium where he was found, makes the case that the
Neanderthals died out because their diet consisted almost solely of meat from large animals that were driven to extinction, or close to it, by invading Homo sapiens and fluctuating climate.

Homo sapiens

Are the only living species in the Homo genus of bipedal primates in Hominid, the great ape family.

Genetic bottleneck

Is an evolutionary event in which a significant percentage of a population or species is killed or otherwise prevented from reproducing.

Throwing weapons

Developed before the adoption of bow and arrows, they were an advantage to Homo sapiens over Neanderthals creating more space between hunter and its prey.

Culture

The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.